[RichardInFlorida]

Another gun buyback is happening this weekend. This one is in Austell, GA (just outside of Atlanta). One of the sponsors, State Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan, wants to "raise awareness" about violence in the community. Other elected officials who have contributed to this buyback are Cobb County Commission Chairman Sam Olens and State Senator Doug Stoner.

Read the full story here. (http://www.gunsholstersandgear.com/2008/06/26/another-useless-gun-buyback-georgia-representative-morgan-wants-your-guns/)

I urge everyone, especially those Georiga residents represented by one of these folks, to contact these elected officials and tell them to support freedom and do not waste taxpayer money (by way of police assistance) on useless programs.

Also encourage them to pursue crime control measures. State Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan has actually sponsored legislation to amend the Georgia constitution to allow convicted felons still serving their sentence on probation/parole to vote.

GA State Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan
Suite 404 Coverdell Legislative Office Building
Atlanta, GA 30334
Office - (404) 656-0109
Home - (770) 948-6447
Cell - (770) 912-0609
alisha@alishamorgan.com

GA Senator Doug Stoner
121-E State Capitol
Atlanta, GA 30334
Office - (404) 463-2518
Fax - (404) 651-6767
doug.stoner@senate.ga.gov

Cobb County Commission Chairman Sam Olens
100 Cherokee Street
Marietta, GA 30090-9679
Office - (770) 528-3300
Fax - (770) 528-2606
solens@cobbcounty.org

[ZombieHunter]

In all seriousness:

What's wrong with gun buy back programs? Does it stimulate gun theft in the days/weeks preceding/following it? I'd think that if one gangbanger turned over an illegal weapon that's a good thing. Then again maybe I'm not seeing something else here...it's happened before I'll admit.

[Picard]

It's not a problem with the buyback. It's a problem with the ideology behind it. This type of thinking is misguided in that it tries to make people believe that any and all guns in the hands of citizens are bad. Reduce the number of guns and we are better off, no matter if the guns were from law-abiding possession or not.

Knowing how difficult it can be to buy a gun, would a criminal, who probably had to pull some strings, turn in his? Last time I checked, criminals weren't desperate to quit their day jobs.

The real problem, as I'm sure you have heard before, is not with the guns but with the people who misuse them. Take away guns, and they will find other tools to misuse, or they will make their own.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kbj4UPBrV64&feature=related

[rklessdriver]

I suggest some THR members get together, go to the buy back points and offer "to buy back some of those guns". :)

As I understand it, private FTF sale is still legal in Ga.
Will

[S4gunn]

How much are they offering for guns?
Who is giving them the money?

If its not public funds (or even if it is for that matter), why not consider dropping off some of your worthless Lorcins or Raven Arms pistols.

If I had found out about the one in my neck of the woods (SF) earlier, I might have just taken them up on their offer. They were offering between $100-250 depending on the type of gun... with handguns being extra "evil". In the pictures on the website, i could have sworn I saw at least one $79 Mosin Nagant "Big 5 Sporting Goods" special.

-g

[ArmedBear]

Hmmm...

Maybe set up a stand down the street offering to pay more for the guns, if they're worth more?

[borntwice]

ArmedBear - you have an idea there... Hmmm.

[RichardInFlorida]

The article I read said they had $25 and $50 gift cards. I don't know if they would go more than $50 per gun.

And yes, public funds are used. I don't know if the $$$ for the gift cards come from the funds, but there will be Cobb County Police officers on scene. They are paid, trained, and equipped with public funding.

As far as the gift card money, the news story seemed to indicate the cash was coming from donations, but it did not exclude public funding.

My biggest concern with these things is the rationale for them. Actually getting CRIMINALS off the street is not a priority with these groups. Nor is providing for the defense of the innocent.

[TacoMalo]

Why not a program that would definitely work better like turn in a criminal and get a gift card for two full tanks of gas?

[jackdanson]

As a side note I am also currently running a gun buyback program. If you have an m1 carbine/garand, any ak derivative, any lever action, any AR, any bolt action, any pistols, any revolvers, or any shotties that you need rid of send me a PM. I am currently offering a $25 gift card to Applebees for every gun!! What can I say, I care about my community.

[jaak]

thats about 45 minutes from me, i should go set up a stand and see what people are bringing. i could offer 55 bucks, CASH not a gift card, i think i could pick up some good deals. the junk guns, i would just let the police take.

[NGIB]

I will bet dollars to donuts that the Cobb county cops will be on the lookout for anyone trying to intercept folks headed for the buyback. They get kind of anal at times and I wouldn't risk it to find a Lorcin or Jennings...

[SCKimberFan]

Donuts and Cops in the same sentence. I can't believe you would stoop to that level. :D

[HammerG26]

What circumstances could Cobb Police bother anyone looking to provide a better economic return to those persons so misguided as to think that turning in guns can reduce crime?

Regarding carrying -
Obviously, I cannot go to the church itself while carrying, but if I set up nearby, can I get in trouble for carrying in a "public place"?

Hammer

I have a buddy with Cobb County SWAT, maybe I should take him with me... :what:

[simon.sez]

I know that when Central Florida does gun buy backs, they prominently announce that they will arrest anyone that tries to buy the firearms anywhere in the vicinity of the program being held. I never experienced it firsthand, just heard it on the radio along with the buyback announcement.

I imagine that it would be the same deal everywhere that holds one of these.
So I wouldn't mess with it. Just steer clear of the whole thing.

Honestly, I'm under the impression that it is by far mostly law abiding non-gunnies that turn in guns left to them or others that turn in real junk that they couldn't sell anyway.

Just my .02

[Animal Mother]

I don't see how there would be anything wrong with handing out business cards with your phone number for a free firearms appraisal if you saw somebody about to turn in old granddad's luger for a $50 gift card.

[lacoochee]

I personally have a few hundred guns I need to get rid of, some them are truly junk and some are just rusted out. Don't ask, you'll cry if I tell you what I saw at the back of an old vault a month ago. I am salvaging what I can, and a few I am going to try and save regardless of the cost (can you say 1843 Springfield with "Bull Run I was there" scratched on the butt stock, I will save it, I will). But a deal with +$100 gift certificates or cash would make me very happy right now.

[Poor East Texan]

I have a junked/bubba'd Mauser I'd take $50 for.....

I'm certain that some really valuable stuff gets turned in by antis....

I have confusion how a state like Georgia has this sort of thing.....

[aryfrosty]

If they do arrest anyone buying in the area then they are obviously bored enough to violate the Constitution. It is a sad time which finds us with Police Officers cooperating with gun grabbers while they join in criminal enterprises like these... Cobb county isn't exactly know for observance of civil liberties unless you're a jackleg politician scrounging for votes. My son was in an accident there last year and was taken by ambulance to the hospital and his car was totalled. He presented his CCP and told the Officer where his SIG 9mm. was secured in the car so it would be secure while the car was towed. When he was out of the hospital he went to the PD and asked for his gun and was told that they had apparently "mislaid it". It took 2 weeks of going there every other day before the officer turned the gun in and the son was able to reclaim it.

[RichardInFlorida]

Cobb county isn't exactly know for observance of civil liberties unless you're a jackleg politician scrounging for votes

Can't speak for the rest of the county, but Kennesaw is in Cobb County, GA. Kennesaw -requires- gun ownership.

[jaak]

lol, you obviously havent visited kennesaw... cobb county cops are all over that place. they are asshats, and very rude. i have not met or encountered a single, law abiding officer from cobb YET. i would love to meet one. i dont think they exist.

[aryfrosty]

True. Unfortunately that Kennesaw ordnance passed without any penalty clause. You have never had to own guns there and you jump through the same hoops to get a permit to carry concealed as anywhere else in Georgia. Not as bad as some states, but some parts are pretty bad. Kennesaw's law was like when Ronnie Thompson, as Mayor of Macon, issued his infamous "shoot to kill fleeing criminals" order. Doggoned good thing none of his officers trusted him or felt like obeying THAT silly order. I was a cop for 25 years in Georgia and that makes it even harder for me to tolerate the abuse of authority by some officers. It especially galls me when it is in Georgia. Al

[evan price]

iirc, a town in California tried this with $200 cards for each gun, and wound up having to write IOU's for thousands and thousands of dollars.

I fully support these gun-buy programs. Until they stop making new guns, these programs accomplish little to reduce the total number of "Guns on the streets" as they put it, and actually INCREASE the number of "Functional Guns on the streets" because everybody trades in their craptastic junkers and gets a nice new decent gun.

I personally have been buying all of the under $30 junkers I can find just waiting for the next one of these nearby me. I'm lookin at them as an investment towards an M1 Carbine.

I see HiPoint C9s used for $69 or so all the time. I'm waiting for a $100 per pistol buyback so I can go clean them out!

[rocinante]

What's wrong with gun buy back programs?

Do you think anyone who attaches any value to a firearm will turn it in for pennies on the dollar?

No criminal is going to surrender his means of self preservation and /or income. So no crime deterrence met.

If it is a no questions asked a criminal will use the program to cash in on his stolen loot if he has poor marketing skills.

Poor old grannies and such will cash in a firearm. They weren't posing any harm to anybody where they were.

Many folks here on gun boards get excited at the opportunity to cash in on inoperable JUNK.

WASTE OF MONEY AND TIME. Just another misguided feel good we are going something show.

[RichardInFlorida]

lol, you obviously havent visited kennesaw... cobb county cops are all over that place. they are asshats, and very rude. i have not met or encountered a single, law abiding officer from cobb YET. i would love to meet one. i dont think they exist.

Actually, I was a police officer for the city of Kennesaw for several years prior to moving back to my home state. I participated in many joint exercises with Cobb County PD, and while every department has a few screwballs, I found their officers to be honest, hard-working guys.

[RichardInFlorida]

Unfortunately that Kennesaw ordnance passed without any penalty clause. You have never had to own guns there...

Actually, IIRC, Sec. 1-11, the General Penalty section of the city ordinances, provided for a penalty of up to $1000, imprisonment of up to 6 months, 60 days labor with the Public Works and Streets Department, or some combination of the above. Sec 34-1, which required gun (and ammunition!) ownership did not have a separate penalty set out for it and would fall under Sec. 1-11.

As an interesting aside, on more than one occasion one of my officers or I would arrest someone who would mention they were told by other cons to stay out of "The 'Saw" because everyone had a gun.

[jmr40]

Saw on the 11 o'clock news where the program was sponsored by a church. 11 guns were turned in and judging from what was shown on the news most looked un-useable.

I sold an old RG .22 that was un-usable a few years ago at a local buy back for $50. My brother and I both took cash and hung around outside to check out what was being brought in. No one told us to leave and we saw nothing worth buying.

[ExSoldier]

You guys are all missing the problem with these buy-back programs!

#1 It actually increases crime in the area or at least provides a form of legal cover. One of the prerequisites for such a program is to assure the "criminals" that there will be no penalty or check in the transaction.

So why not pull a few heists or heck maybe knock off a competitor or two, maybe some local gang members on your turf THEN turn the evidence of the crime over to the cops who will make sure that evidence is either melted down or dumped in a very deep part of the Atlantic? Then you can take the legal revenue you made from the cops and buy some newer and "cleaner" street guns where you got the old ones?

#2 These buy-back programs are the forerunners of paid Confidential Informant programs at the mom & pop level.

We managed to get "assault weapons" banned but everybody knows somebody who's got one and you know, may not even realize they're in possession of deadly hardware. For $100 we can guarantee that your grandson will stay safe and not be arrested. We only want the gun. DO THE RIGHT THING!

I promise you that at first that is exactly what will happen, the guns will be taken with no action taken, except that instead of not keeping records, this time copious records will be kept for future use of both the informant and the one in possession. Later on, when "no knock" midnight searches become common, the former CI's will be blackmailed into giving up more names and the former possessors will be rounded up as possible "insurgents."

Think it's a fairy tale? Look at history (which I have taught for 19 years). This is world history from 1936 to the present.

We're just a little bit slow catching up. Don't let the wonderful results in Heller fool you, when a real TYRANT grabs power the USSC won't matter.

[charlie505]

"How can the BUY_BACK something they never owned in the first place?" - quote from the Boston Tea Party


My grandfather who always told me - "When they come for your guns, give them the ones that dont work."

He once handed out junk parts to people to turn in for money at one buy-back. The line was around the block. :neener:

[Gerald in Ga]

If she wants to raise awareness, that is a good way to do it. Have a gun buy back so the bad guys know that the citizens have no protection.
The public will be really aware when the front doors start getting kicked in at 3:00 AM.

OH thats right, call the police. They'll save you.

[3rd Generation American]

This is the best way to use those Raven's on the bottom of your safe, if they would give me 50.00 for a POS like that I'm in!

[Tom Servo]

For those not from these parts, Austell and Kennesaw are about as similar as Fallujah and Mayberry.

As others have pointed out, criminals aren't the ones turning in their guns. The guns being turned in are the ones left in the attic by deceased relatives and such. Few are in workable condition. Chances are, we've lost a few vintage 1911s, Lugers, and nice revolvers because people who didn't know what they had turned them in for a $25.00 debit card.